Mental health issues cost UK £70bn a year

Mental health issues cost the UK around £70 billion every year, according to research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Its report, Mental health and work: United Kingdom, found that this figure amounts to a 53% loss in employment and productivity.

The report recommends that the government’s new Health at Work Service, which will be introduced in 2014, is implemented quickly and universally, with a strong focus on mental health and those still in work, and with much stronger involvement from employers.

Further expanding access to psychological therapies for those with a common mental disorder.

Increasing the attention to mental health and its impact on employability and work capacity in all parts of the welfare system.

Shruti Singh, directorate for employment, labour and social affairs at the OECD, and author of the report, said: “The UK is one of the most advanced countries in terms of awareness [of mental health issues].

“With this positive, we should be seeing better outcomes than we are seeing. There are many good policies and initiatives, but these need to be translated into actions.”

Stephen Bevan, director of the Centre for Workforce Effectiveness at The Work Foundation, which hosted the launch of the report, added: “Some large employers do amazing work around mental health in the workplace, but too few employers do this well.

“The system needs to encourage employers to support employees with mental health issues.”

I couldn’t agree more. Firstly, we cannot afford this loss of performance and productivity, it makes no commercial sense. Working effectively and efficiently with people who have a mental health problem (and this applies to far more people than is normally acknowledged) is not a nice-to-have, it is a business imperative. We need to make work possible, meaningful and sustainable for people with mental health problems. As someone who spends a significant part of my working life in this arena I fully endorse the notion that there are pockets of excellence, but there are also vast swathes of the workplaces of the UK that stil deny it is something to be addressed. The behaviour of managers and peers is a major driver of success, and we have found that it takes only small adjustments to achieve significant success. What I would add, though, is that many people with mental health problems – especialy those not in employment – feel marginalised, stigmatised and diminished. We need to change this rapidly and businesses need to partner with organisations who can help them do so.